ode
/oʊd/noun
ode is spelled O-D-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ode means “A short poetical composition proper to be set to music or sung; a lyric poem; especially, now, a poem characterized by sustained noble sentiment and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ode is odes.
How many letters and syllables are in ode?
| Letters | 3: O-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ode?
Ode appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ode?
- US /oʊd/
- UK /əʊd/
- /od/
Ode has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ode.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ode
Sounds like: owed (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with ode?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ode from its last stressed vowel (/oʊd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: doe, deo.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ode
- odes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ode mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A short poetical composition proper to be set to music or sung; a lyric poem; especially, now, a poem characterized by sustained noble sentiment and appropriate dignity of style.
write an ode to someone
- 2
slangAn odonate; a dragonfly or damselfly.
noun
- 1
Initialism of ordinary differential equation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ode in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ode come from?
From Middle French ode, from Late Latin ōda, from Ancient Greek ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”). Doublet of Aoede.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).